Event Article

Before I knew it, the magic had ended, and I felt remorse for it was time to leave. I never thought a stage production could do this to me, but after seeing the Fine Arts Department's production of "Peter Pan," I saw how wrong I was.

We all know the story of "Peter Pan," the boy that refuses to grow up and become an adult. The FC musical production of the tale really breathed some life back into the storybook figure that had grown so dim to me.

The singular components of the show by themselves were great, but when they were combined the results were fabulous. Everything,. even the air that Peter and Co. flew through contained the magic that made this

show so believable to me. (I'm 20-years-old, can you imagine the affect this would have on someone of ten?)

"Peter Pan" was the Theatre Departments musical for the year. The orchestra was conducted by John Tebay and was well in sync with the action on stage, except they were/off once for a minor sound effect. Overall the music and singing gave impact to the story.

On the singing, I was equally impressed by the whole cast. There were a couple of catchy songs, but I couldn't remember their titles if my life was on the line. One sang between Peter Pan, Sandie Estrada, and Wendy, Tracy Halbmaier, had their.voices matched in a sweet harmony.

Something that really added to the play was a sound system. In last semester's "The Taming of the Shrew," there didn't seem to be one, so the actors sort of had to yell to be heard, and consequently it became annoying after a while. The sound system was operated by Scott Crockett who did a good job of not letting it become too loud or faint.

It can only be expected that whenever there is a theatre production at FC, the sets will be immaculate. "Peter Pan's" were no exception. As usual, the smallest detail wasn't overlooked, from the pirate ship's fluttering Jolly Roger, to the rocking horse in the children's nursery everything was represented as it really should have been.

No play would be complete without performers, and "Peter Pan" had an abundance of them. There were lost boys, indian maidens, pirates, their wenches, and all of the singular characters as well. All of the former masses of characters mentioned did great, and in the scenes where they had been choreographed, no one really was off cue.

The singular actors all turned in good performances. To me the most memorable characters were: Steve Magliocco's Captain Hook, the true embodiment of a scurvy sea dog. Brian Kojac's Smee, the best companion a pirate captain could hope for. Of course Estrada's Peter Pan was a good rendition of the ever youthful boy, and Halbmaier's, Wendy, was favorable as Pan's love. An interesting twist in which new technology combines with the old theatre is that Tinkerbell, the fairy, was visible to the audience. By the use of a laser, the audience could keep an eye on the little nymphs antics.

What really gave a lot to the production was the flying. I admit that I'm green with jealousy, for those who got to fly. I know they had a wire in their backs, but it did at times seem that they were floating on air.

Now for the dirty part of this job. I think that a few details should have been developed a lot more, for the sake of adding a little more clarity to the story. For one, the jealousy of Tinkerbell for Wendy. There were a lot of young children in the audience, and I feel that they may of missed this bit entirely. Another thing is, Why did the indian's dislike Peter and the lost boys so much? One last triviality, what really became of the poisoned cake?

The run for "Peter Pan" has yet to finish, it will run again this weekend, and tickets can be purchased through the box office in front of the Campus Theatre, or for more information contact the Theatre Department